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A comedy show about
the United States government, starring me,
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produced by you.
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I have some concerns.
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Adam, can we make this fast,
I'm right in the middle of doing my taxes.
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You don't have an accountant?
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I enjoy doing them myself.
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You know taxes are the price
we pay for living in a civilized society.
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Uh-huh. So, how's it going?
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It's actually easy. All you have
to do is follow the instructions.
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Multiply taxable income by point two
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and enter on line thirteen.
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Then enter the amount
from Schedule D, line six.
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I'm pretty sure I've got
Schedule D around here somewhere.
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Adam, what's on your mind?
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-Well, former President Obama, if people--
-You know most
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-people just say "president."
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Well that's inaccurate.
It's not your job anymore.
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You know, I was promoted at the
supermarket junior year of high school,
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but I'm not making people call me
Shift Manager Adam Conover for the
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rest of my life.
That would be crazy.
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I don't want
our fact-checkers on my ass. So,
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I'm gonna have to stick with former
president, or do you prefer FOPOTUS?
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Anytime you want to get
to the point is fine by me.
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FOPOTUS Obama,
you're producing the show.
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People are going to think
it's pro-government propaganda.
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Well the show is not about me.
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The goal of the show is to show
people what our government actually does.
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And to introduce them to the
Americans who actually do the work.
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But the government
doesn't always work well.
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In fact, sometimes it does harm.
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I don't wanna make a show
about how the government works.
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I wanna know if it works and for whom.
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Do you think I can
deduct this as a home office?
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O… Okay. Look, your shtick
is revealing the truth right?
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So look into those questions and tell
the whole truth about what you find.
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Huh. So we could
investigate financial bailouts.
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Be my guest.
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FEMA!
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Go nuts.
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Military technology.
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Adam, it's your funeral.
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Make the show you wanna make.
I've got expenses to report.
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Attach additional worksheet.
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What additional worksheet?
There is no additional worksheet!
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Okay, look, I'm as skeptical as you are.
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Does the algorithm actually expect you to
watch a comedy show about the government
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when you could be watching I don't
know… Food Fails on Nailed It?
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Okay, don't actually do it.
But look, I am with you.
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Government is practically
a dirty word in America.
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And if you don't believe me,
try bringing it up on Thanksgiving
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and watch what happens to you.
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We don't even wanna think
about the government,
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much less talk about it.
It's nothing but bureaucracy and lobbyists
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and politicians, right?
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I'm asking for your vote so I can blah,
blah, taxes, liberty, everyone hates me.
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But once I started looking into
what our government actually does,
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I was amazed to discover
that behind the politics
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lies the biggest and most
powerful organization on Earth.
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One out of every
16 workers in America
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is employed by the federal government.
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And for better and for worse,
they shape every aspect of our lives.
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Yet most of us have no idea
what any of these people do.
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Seriously, what do you do?
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I make sure our nuclear
weapons don't accidentally explode.
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See?! This is important shit.
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Isn't it a little weird
that every four years
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we get into a national screaming match
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about who's going to run a government
most of us know nothing about?
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Our government is
supposed to be of the people,
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by the people, for the people.
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So shouldn't we the people
understand what the hell it actually does?
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So, on this show,
we're gonna investigate all the ways,
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good and bad,
the government affects our lives.
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From the money in our pockets,
to the health of our bodies,
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to the very thing
that keeps us alive, our food.
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When I go to the supermarket,
I'm overwhelmed by all the choices.
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But, what about the
choices we don't get to make?
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Like why are unhealthy
foods cheaper than healthy ones?
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Why does every loaf of bread
have corn syrup in it?
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And why does milk
go straight from whole to two percent?
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Where's all the 53% milk?!
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Other people are making
these choices for us.
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And in our food system,
no one's choices are more powerful
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than the government's.
So what I want to know is
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-are its choices helping us or hurting us.
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And do they have our best interest
at heart or someone else's?
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Well, one choice the government makes is
that it sets standards for food safety.
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Think about it, no matter
what you choose at the supermarket,
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you can generally assume it's not
going to make you violently ill.
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-A hundred years ago though,
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food in America made
people sick all the damn time.
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Hey honey, should I get
the tainted meat or the non-tainted meat?
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Agh, I'll get the brand name,
it's got twenty percent less arsenic.
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And it's not hard to see why
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once you know how meat
was processed back then.
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Hey boss, the rats were defecating
on the meat, so I poisoned the rats,
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but now all the meats are
covered in dead poisoned rats.
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What do you say we do?
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Sounds like a new flavor of sausage to me.
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I wish I could say
this was an exaggeration.
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When the writer Upton Sinclair
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exposed these unsanitary
conditions in his book, The Jungle,
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the public outcry forced
President Teddy Roosevelt to act.
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That's disgusting!
We gotta do something about this.
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My fellow Americans, I have signed
the Federal Meat Inspection Act,
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giving the United States
Department of Agriculture the authority
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to inspect meat to ensure it's fit to eat.
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From now on, the only
jungle you'll hear about
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-is the one where I shoot elephants.
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And when you see that USDA logo,
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just know that's Uncle Teddy telling you,
it's yum yum for your tum-tum.
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Wow, Teddy really was the original bear.
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And his push for food
regulation was unbelievably successful.
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Mass fear of tainted meat
became a thing of the past.
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And the industry actually
benefited because the USDA logo was
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basically a stamp of government
approval that the food was safe.
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When you think about it, though,
isn't this job almost too big?
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I mean, the US commercial meat industry
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now processes over a
hundred billion pounds of beef,
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chicken, pork, lamb,
mutton and goat every year,
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not to mention emu.
Yeah, we're eating emu now.
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And every single pound of that hundred
billion has to be inspected multiple times
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by the USDA.
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So who exactly
is touching all of our meat?
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Do they find it
gross or hot that I put it that way?
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And most importantly,
what the hell is that job even like?
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Welcome to Cargill Schuyler.
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Hey, thanks for having me.
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-Nice to meet you.
-You bet.
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So, h… how many
head of cattle a day here?
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We're gonna process
uh, roughly five thousand head a day.
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And how many folks from
USDA do you have working here?
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So we'll have uh, roughly
thirteen USDA inspectors um, on-site,
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for both shifts, so twenty-six total
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and then we'll have
two vets with the USDA.
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This is something
that not a lot of people
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get to see other than
people who work here.
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That is correct. How
should I say, We don't allow many cameras.
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So this is where we'll
break the carcass down
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and then put it in a box and
then we'll sell it for consumers.
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Got it.
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So if you look down here, um,
you know we talked earlier about the USDA.
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-Yeah, I see it, there is a USDA…
-There's… there's
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one of
our USDA inspectors right there.
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-Right there with the USDA logo on.
-That is correct.
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So he's just walking around,
he's like looking under that,
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looking under that tarp.
Just like a roving kind of inspection,
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sort of like having a restaurant
inspector, but they're here everyday.
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That's correct.
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Not a lot of private businesses
invite the government in like that.
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A lot of them say, "Well,
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then you're gonna tell me I gotta
stop work and that costs me money."
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We have to have them.
It's a federal mandate that we have USDA.
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Can I… can I ask
you on uh, a personal level,
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you think that federal
mandate is important?
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You think that helps
improve the quality of the meat,
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that they're mandated to be here?
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-Absolutely.
-Yeah.
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There's a partnership
there. They are helping us to get better.
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They're making sure
that we are doing what we're supposed to
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from a food safety standpoint.
Any deficiency in our process,
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that's what they're looking for, right.
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That's what they're…
that's what they're inspecting for.
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-Hey!
-Hi Adam, I'm Miguel.
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So I'm a Safety Inspector for USDA.
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So even though you're right next to
people who work for the company
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and they're giving you
a little bit of a hard time,
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"Hey, why do you have to stop the line?"
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That never gets in the way
of you doing your job?
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No, if I have a legitimate
reason to shut the line off,
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if I see the product
is gonna get contaminated,
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cross-contaminated
and it's gonna harm somebody,
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I have to do my job.
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To me personally, it's
very important to make sure
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that I'm doing my part
so people doesn't get sick.
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-Yeah.
-Coz uh…
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The food that we produce here goes to
my table and goes to everybody's table.
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What happens when you know,
you see something, that there's a problem?
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If we see anything, we're going to use one
of these blue tags who is called sus…
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suspect tags, and
we'll write it out for our veterinarian,
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and he's going to take uh,
this position on him.
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So you see something,
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you see some lymph nodes that
aren't quite right, or something like that
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and you say, "Uh-oh, I got a tag this
so the veterinarian can look at it."
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-Hi, Adam. Hi. Dr. Angela Broatman.
-Hey!
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So you're…
you're a veterinarian for the USDA.
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Yes. I've been a veterinarian
for 11 years with the USDA.
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And the reason I do this is
because I'm interested in public health.
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These are just some of the cows
that are going to slaughter today
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and to enter the food chain
for the American public.
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But I… I guess I'm not an expert,
I'm looking at these cows, I'm like,
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to me, it doesn't look like
a super happy sight, right?
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So, like how can you tell
if they're, you know, in good spirits
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or they've been mistreated
or anything like that?
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Having the catwalk is
actually a really great vantage point.
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Because sometimes I watch
the truckers as they're unloading, to
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make sure they're um,
using humane handling techniques
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and make sure that they're walking
them and nobody's doing anything else
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to cause them undue stress
as they come off the trucks.
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You're actually paying attention
to their like, to their behavior.
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Sure. I'm watching
for anybody that's limping. I need to
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watch to see if
they come to the water troughs.
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Are our water tanks full
so that they can get a drink,
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I'm watching for any foreign
animal diseases. I'm listening.
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-Listening to those sounds.
-Yeah. I'm listening, that's a normal moo.
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-Smelling the smell.
-Yeah.
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-How'd you get into this?
-During vet school,
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I actually discovered
that I really love necropsy,
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because I love seeing their organs--
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-That's autopsy, basically.
-Yeah, the autopsy on animals.
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So you were like--
Hold on a second. You were a veterinarian
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and you were like my favorite part
is when I cut apart a dead animal?
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-It yeah… It actually was.
-And you were like ping!
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Yeah, it's like
where can I work on dead animals?
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-And… and the USDA has afforded me that.
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I love looking at the disease processes,
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and I get to see
so many different um, diseases.
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-You're a geek for cow diseases.
-I am.
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There's the right job
out there for every obsession.
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-Right.
-No matter what weird thing you like.
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There's a job--
There's a job out there for it.
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You'll see inside that the inspectors
are looking at every single carcass
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and they're looking at
all the viscera, all the organs.
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So, anything that
would be a threat to public health.
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Okay so, tell me what
I was looking at in there. Like I noticed
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you were looking at that
big carcass and you saw something
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and you started stamping it
with blue dye, what does that mean?
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A lot of times that dye means that a
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00:12:49,102 --> 00:12:50,979
product is not good for--
it's contaminated
230
00:12:51,063 --> 00:12:52,231
so it can't go for edible product.
231
00:12:52,314 --> 00:12:56,443
As you saw, all those lungs had a whole
bunch of uh, pneumonia inside there.
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00:12:56,527 --> 00:12:58,028
-Yeah.
-So as I looked at the carcass, I
233
00:12:58,111 --> 00:13:00,572
noticed that systemically
that carcass was not healthy.
234
00:13:00,656 --> 00:13:02,574
So it couldn't have
been used for human consumption.
235
00:13:02,658 --> 00:13:04,743
Man! I… I mean…
236
00:13:05,953 --> 00:13:08,455
this is just such an intense thing to see.
237
00:13:08,539 --> 00:13:11,458
Is it an intense job to have
or do you get used to this?
238
00:13:11,542 --> 00:13:13,794
You get used to it
after a while because you know
239
00:13:13,877 --> 00:13:16,296
that while you're on the floor,
that you're actually protecting the public
240
00:13:16,380 --> 00:13:17,923
by making sure that
these animals are healthy
241
00:13:18,006 --> 00:13:20,384
and making it to so-- uh, some
type of product that's meaningful.
242
00:13:20,467 --> 00:13:23,595
-That your family could enjoy.
-Yeah. How did you start doing this?
243
00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,848
I started off as a private
practitioner vet in northwest Missouri.
244
00:13:26,932 --> 00:13:29,142
Like a regular vet,
like "My dog is coughing" vet?
245
00:13:29,226 --> 00:13:30,143
Exactly. Yeah.
246
00:13:30,227 --> 00:13:33,146
I assume you must love animals,
like because you were doing that work.
247
00:13:33,230 --> 00:13:35,857
So how does that feel to you
to be a part of a system that is,
248
00:13:35,941 --> 00:13:37,651
you know, killing animals?
249
00:13:37,734 --> 00:13:40,988
Well, the way I see it is, I do--
I enjoy the live animals very much. But
250
00:13:41,071 --> 00:13:43,365
at the same time too, I want
to make sure they're humanely treated
251
00:13:43,448 --> 00:13:46,159
and all that-- any time
they're going for slaughter process,
252
00:13:46,243 --> 00:13:47,911
that they're being appropriately handled.
253
00:13:47,995 --> 00:13:50,163
If I-- If someone's not there
to do that, then who else is?
254
00:13:50,247 --> 00:13:52,666
Yeah, that's true.
255
00:13:52,749 --> 00:13:54,376
Wow. Thank you so much Dr. Suntrup, it was
256
00:13:54,459 --> 00:13:55,919
-awesome talking to you.
-Thank you.
257
00:13:59,172 --> 00:14:02,134
You know it was hard to see a lot of that.
258
00:14:02,217 --> 00:14:06,972
But it's still so important
for us to take a good look at the system
259
00:14:07,055 --> 00:14:09,349
that actually produces our food.
260
00:14:09,433 --> 00:14:10,851
And no matter what you
think of the meat industry,
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00:14:10,934 --> 00:14:14,563
I think you have to be happy that
at every meat factory in America,
262
00:14:14,646 --> 00:14:18,317
there are inspectors on the
line who work not for the company, but
263
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,445
for us, with our best interest at heart.
264
00:14:22,279 --> 00:14:25,782
But you know,
they might not always be there.
265
00:14:25,866 --> 00:14:29,036
See, because of a push
for deregulation in 2019,
266
00:14:29,119 --> 00:14:34,333
the USDA passed a new rule that
could cut up to 40% of pork inspectors
267
00:14:34,416 --> 00:14:38,795
at some plants and instead
allow those plants to self-inspect,
268
00:14:38,879 --> 00:14:42,174
even though it's been found
that plants that tried such a system
269
00:14:42,257 --> 00:14:46,887
had double the violations
for digestive and fecal contamination.
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00:14:46,970 --> 00:14:48,388
Ugh.
271
00:14:50,807 --> 00:14:54,853
Unbelievable. You know, I just
learned these meat inspectors existed.
272
00:14:54,937 --> 00:14:57,397
And now I find out
they're being taken away?
273
00:14:57,481 --> 00:14:59,816
This is Jupiter's Legacy all over again.
274
00:14:59,900 --> 00:15:02,444
You know, I get why a big meat company
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00:15:02,527 --> 00:15:04,363
wouldn't want to have
inspectors in their factory,
276
00:15:04,446 --> 00:15:07,532
but, that sure doesn't help me
when I'm choking down my cheesesteak.
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00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:12,371
And how about that factory,
I mean, not only did the cows uh,
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00:15:12,454 --> 00:15:13,914
not seem to like that place,
279
00:15:13,997 --> 00:15:17,834
studies show that animal
agriculture is such a big polluter, their
280
00:15:17,918 --> 00:15:20,253
emissions are literally cooking the planet
281
00:15:20,337 --> 00:15:24,675
and killing more people every year
than pollution from coal power plants.
282
00:15:25,592 --> 00:15:30,097
Thank you, Brianna. So, if the
government were really looking out for us,
283
00:15:30,180 --> 00:15:34,142
it would be curtailing factory
farming, not inspecting it less, right?
284
00:15:34,226 --> 00:15:38,355
So, who is the government
really working for, the farmers?
285
00:15:38,438 --> 00:15:41,316
Or we the people,
who actually eat the food?
286
00:15:43,276 --> 00:15:46,780
Well, we did a deep dive
into our government's food policy
287
00:15:46,863 --> 00:15:51,493
and it turns out that our government
has always favored the former, the farmer.
288
00:15:51,576 --> 00:15:54,788
And that makes some sense
because for much of our history,
289
00:15:54,871 --> 00:15:57,833
helping out farmers actually
meant helping the average American.
290
00:15:58,542 --> 00:16:01,420
Dang right it did.
Why during the Great Depression,
291
00:16:01,503 --> 00:16:05,549
one out of every four Americans
lived on a farm, like this one here.
292
00:16:05,632 --> 00:16:10,053
And during that great calamity,
we lost 60% of our income.
293
00:16:15,017 --> 00:16:17,811
My molasses! Oh, what do we do?
294
00:16:20,105 --> 00:16:24,985
Not to worry, folks, I'm from
the government and I'm here to help.
295
00:16:25,652 --> 00:16:28,947
I've come direct from
Mr. Franklin Roosevelt himself
296
00:16:29,031 --> 00:16:31,742
to spread the news about
this amazing new program.
297
00:16:31,825 --> 00:16:33,910
It's called "Uncle Sam's Bonus Simoleons
298
00:16:33,994 --> 00:16:36,580
Intended and Directed
to Increase Every Seedling".
299
00:16:36,663 --> 00:16:39,082
Swap the "s" and the "u"
and that spells subsidies.
300
00:16:40,751 --> 00:16:42,878
Here's how it works.
You grow corn on this here farm?
301
00:16:42,961 --> 00:16:44,838
Well, yeah-huh.
302
00:16:44,921 --> 00:16:47,841
You're getting a subsidy!
Now how about growing some wheat?
303
00:16:47,924 --> 00:16:49,301
Well, I could do it.
304
00:16:49,384 --> 00:16:51,511
Subsidy! Rice and cotton?
305
00:16:52,304 --> 00:16:53,597
You name it, I grow it.
306
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,601
Well, call me Old Faithful coz
you're getting a geyser of subsidies!
307
00:16:57,684 --> 00:17:00,187
And Uncle Sam's
not stopping there, no siree.
308
00:17:02,105 --> 00:17:04,441
We're gonna keep ploughin'
haystacks of cash into rural America
309
00:17:04,524 --> 00:17:06,526
for the next century
whether you like it or not.
310
00:17:06,610 --> 00:17:10,280
Why we won't just subsidize you, we'll
buy your surplus when you grow too much.
311
00:17:10,363 --> 00:17:13,408
And we'll fund agricultural
research to keep your fields flourishing.
312
00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:17,871
Just a dab'll do ya.
313
00:17:23,877 --> 00:17:27,672
All this federal investment
didn't just save the American farm.
314
00:17:27,756 --> 00:17:30,884
It was nothing short
of a revolution in the food system.
315
00:17:30,967 --> 00:17:34,930
U.S. farm output has
nearly tripled since 1948
316
00:17:35,013 --> 00:17:40,102
and Americans now spend less of our income
on food than any other developed nation.
317
00:17:40,185 --> 00:17:43,855
In fact, we've become
the world's largest agricultural exporter.
318
00:17:43,939 --> 00:17:45,524
Thank you kindly, Uncle Sam.
319
00:17:46,650 --> 00:17:49,111
There's just a few problems though.
320
00:17:49,194 --> 00:17:53,949
Black farmers never received the
same level of support white farmers did,
321
00:17:54,032 --> 00:17:57,994
a historic mistake that the government
has only recently even acknowledged.
322
00:17:58,078 --> 00:18:00,997
And secondly, if we fast-forward to today…
323
00:18:02,999 --> 00:18:08,421
These century-old, Depression-era
subsidies are still in place.
324
00:18:08,505 --> 00:18:11,216
But most Americans aren't farmers today.
325
00:18:11,299 --> 00:18:13,301
Less than one percent of us are.
326
00:18:13,385 --> 00:18:17,097
And nearly half of our subsidies
aren't going to the small farmers,
327
00:18:17,180 --> 00:18:21,101
they're going to the top seven percent
of the biggest farms in the country.
328
00:18:21,184 --> 00:18:25,522
That means they're not for the people,
they're going straight to Big Agriculture.
329
00:18:32,487 --> 00:18:37,159
Not only that, these subsidies
are quite literally bad for our health.
330
00:18:37,242 --> 00:18:41,204
See, when you subsidize something,
you get a lot more of it.
331
00:18:47,460 --> 00:18:49,212
Have you ever looked
at your supermarket shelves
332
00:18:49,296 --> 00:18:53,300
and wondered why they're
so full of cheap, processed junk food?
333
00:18:53,383 --> 00:18:54,467
This is the answer.
334
00:18:54,551 --> 00:18:57,304
Instead of subsidizing
healthy fruits and vegetables,
335
00:18:57,387 --> 00:19:01,641
our government is still literally
paying farmers to grow bulk grains
336
00:19:01,725 --> 00:19:05,937
like wheat, rice, and corn
that get processed into this crap.
337
00:19:08,148 --> 00:19:11,568
This delicious crap.
I mean, I know it's bad for me.
338
00:19:11,651 --> 00:19:14,362
I know it puts me at greater risk
of diabetes and high cholesterol,
339
00:19:14,446 --> 00:19:16,531
but I cannot stop eating it. Hoo!
340
00:19:18,241 --> 00:19:22,162
And yet, my own government is
helping make sure it's the cheapest,
341
00:19:22,245 --> 00:19:26,875
most abundant food in America. Why?
342
00:19:28,168 --> 00:19:32,339
You know, it sure seems like
the government's mission to help farmers
343
00:19:32,422 --> 00:19:35,800
is getting in the way
of its duty to help eaters.
344
00:19:35,884 --> 00:19:40,055
Especially since the same USDA
that keeps Big Agriculture afloat
345
00:19:40,138 --> 00:19:43,266
is also responsible for
crafting the dietary guidelines
346
00:19:43,350 --> 00:19:46,645
that advise us what to eat. Huh.
347
00:19:46,728 --> 00:19:50,273
Wonder if it's a little bit of
a conflict of interest? Like, ooh, hey…
348
00:19:50,357 --> 00:19:54,319
Remember the USDA food pyramid that was
slapped on the back of every cereal box
349
00:19:54,402 --> 00:19:56,404
and health class handout in the 90s?
350
00:19:56,488 --> 00:19:58,949
Ever wonder where that came from?
351
00:19:59,741 --> 00:20:03,912
Okay team, this guide will influence
every American's eating choices for
352
00:20:03,995 --> 00:20:05,163
decades to come.
353
00:20:05,247 --> 00:20:08,208
So we have to base it on
the best nutrition science available.
354
00:20:09,876 --> 00:20:10,961
Uh-uh oh.
355
00:20:11,044 --> 00:20:12,295
Sorry, nerds.
356
00:20:12,379 --> 00:20:17,133
The USDA gave the agriculture industry
final say over your precious pyramid.
357
00:20:19,386 --> 00:20:23,265
My God! They're cutting
fresh fruits and vegetables in half,
358
00:20:23,348 --> 00:20:25,976
and doubling the recommended
daily allowance of grains!
359
00:20:26,059 --> 00:20:31,648
Hey, more bread in your mouth
means more bread in our pockets.
360
00:20:34,567 --> 00:20:36,444
I know it seems hard to believe, but,
361
00:20:36,528 --> 00:20:40,407
according to the former USDA Director
of Nutrition Guidance, Luise Light,
362
00:20:40,490 --> 00:20:44,411
it's true. She wrote that the
AG Secretary's office altered wording
363
00:20:44,494 --> 00:20:47,038
because the meat and
milk lobbies believed it'd hurt sales.
364
00:20:47,122 --> 00:20:50,333
And also hugely increase
the servings of wheat and other grains
365
00:20:50,417 --> 00:20:51,626
to make wheat growers happy.
366
00:20:51,710 --> 00:20:54,504
And this goes deeper
than the food pyramid.
367
00:20:54,587 --> 00:20:58,633
The USDA even created a marketing
arm to work with fast food companies
368
00:20:58,717 --> 00:21:01,469
to find new ways to cram
their products full of cheese.
369
00:21:01,553 --> 00:21:03,680
Why? To help the dairy industry.
370
00:21:06,016 --> 00:21:09,644
We need to put more cheese here! Here!
371
00:21:09,728 --> 00:21:11,938
Dammit soldier,
we need to put more cheese here!
372
00:21:12,605 --> 00:21:17,235
But ma'am, it's already covered in cheese!
373
00:21:17,319 --> 00:21:19,321
-There's no more room!
374
00:21:19,404 --> 00:21:21,156
I don't give a crap!
375
00:21:22,282 --> 00:21:25,160
Put it in the goddamn
crust if you have to.
376
00:21:28,204 --> 00:21:29,497
Brilliant!
377
00:21:32,292 --> 00:21:37,213
Hold on a second. The government
delivered us stuffed crust pizza?
378
00:21:37,297 --> 00:21:40,800
Not only that, I grew up
scarfing down six to eleven servings of
379
00:21:40,884 --> 00:21:42,427
bagels and pasta a day
380
00:21:42,510 --> 00:21:44,763
because the government
told me it was healthy,
381
00:21:44,846 --> 00:21:46,056
and because I had low self-esteem.
382
00:21:46,139 --> 00:21:50,143
But now I find out that it was
all a lie to prop up the food industry.
383
00:21:50,226 --> 00:21:51,311
What the fuck?!
384
00:21:54,314 --> 00:21:57,609
You know, every article and ad
says that the key to healthy eating is
385
00:21:57,692 --> 00:21:59,778
for us to make better choices,
386
00:21:59,861 --> 00:22:01,571
but why is it all on us?
387
00:22:01,654 --> 00:22:05,367
Maybe instead of worrying so much
about what we choose off the shelves,
388
00:22:05,450 --> 00:22:09,245
we should pay more attention to what
our government chooses to put on them.
389
00:22:09,329 --> 00:22:13,917
Because only it has the power to determine
whether our food is safe and fit to eat,
390
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,379
whether the advice on the
back is healthy or harmful.
391
00:22:17,462 --> 00:22:19,964
And whether a box
of Super Sugar Berry Bombs is
392
00:22:20,048 --> 00:22:22,300
ten times cheaper
than a real goddamn berry.
393
00:22:26,888 --> 00:22:30,517
Oh, these are good though.
They give these to kids, really?
394
00:22:31,351 --> 00:22:35,563
You know, sometimes you hear people say
that the government can't do big things,
395
00:22:35,647 --> 00:22:38,650
but, clearly it can and does.
396
00:22:38,733 --> 00:22:42,320
The more important question
to ask is who it's doing them for?
397
00:22:42,403 --> 00:22:47,283
Because if our government stops working
to our benefit, it can be a disaster.